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Sampling the Difficult-to-Sample^1,2,

Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248

Difficult-to-sample populations are defined as rare populations or populations that are difficult to locate, enumerate or interview. This definition includes subgroups of the United States population that are at increased risk of adverse health effects associated with malnutrition. Examples include persons who are rare (pregnant women), difficult to locate (migrant farm workers), difficult to enumerate (homeless individuals) or difficult to interview (substance abusers). Probability methods to sample rare and elusive populations are reviewed briefly. Methods include disproportionately allocated sampling, multiplicity sampling and the use of multiple frames. The advantages and disadvantages of nonprobability sampling methods are compared using criteria typically applied to assess alternative probability sampling methods. The cost of data collection alone may prohibit consideration of probability sampling methods, but caution is urged before abandoning this statistically sound approach to sample selection. Considerations for sampling the difficult-to-sample are illustrated for one such population, the homeless.

KEY WORDS: • survey sampling • rare populations • probability sampling • disproportionate allocation • homeless populations

¹ Presented as part of a symposium, "Nutritional Assessment and Intervention: Interface of Science and Policy," sponsored by the joint American Institute of Nutrition/American Society for Clinical Nutrition Task Force on Hunger and Malnutrition, given at the meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Washington, DC., April 4, 1990.

² Guest editor for this symposium was William H. Dietz, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111.

Manuscript received 17 October 1990. Revision accepted 9 January 1991.

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